My Princess
by Lentex
Summary: Lola Loud, 15, has finally gotten herself a boyfriend. For a couple of months, she is on top of the world and nothing can stop her or bring her down. Then, catastrophe strikes when she least expects it to do so.


The doorbell rang, and Lola Loud, fifteen, was about to leave the house to go on her first date. Down the stairs she went in her bright bubblegum pink dress, strawberry trim, the fruit of a long hour and a half of outfit planning. Confidence made itself evident in her steps. In the living room were her siblings, each eager to voice their thoughts, each brimming with pride.

"I'm so proud of you!" Leni.

"You got this, Lols!" Lana.

"Show him who's boss!" Lynn.

"Lola's finally growing up!" Lincoln.

"I know, right! It feels like just yesterday that I was driving you to first grade for the first time." Lori.

Lola giggled. "Aw, guys." Things had changed quite a bit in the Loud residence over the past few years. Lori was twenty-six, living and working in New York City. Lincoln was twenty, in the midst of college. Lily was ten, no longer the baby that Lola once knew.

Thanksgiving was tomorrow, and for the first time in a couple of years, every Loud child's schedule allowed them to return home for the holiday. As a result, tonight was the first time in a great while that the siblings were at their childhood home all at once.

Before she could make it to the front door, Lincoln put his hand on her shoulder. Lola turned quickly, her skirt catching a bit of air.

"You're fifteen, now," he reminded her, "and you're my sister, so I want the best for you. I always have." He leaned down so that he was eye level with her. "Just remember… nice people don't necessarily fall in love with nice people."

Lola closed her eyes and smiled. She remembered when, at six, she would patiently wait at the top of the staircase for when her brother got home. When he came through the front door and started to reach the stairs, she would walk out in front of him, and offered, unsolicited, her opinion that Ronnie Anne ought to have start treating him better, that he needed to stand up to her bullying. Then she waited, with parted lips and a saucy challenge in her eyes, to see how her demand—the drama of being her—was registering. Would he stand up to Ronnie Anne?

Lincoln would always be grateful that she was looking out for him but brush her advice off. She was looking in from the outside in, after all. He knew better. He could handle it himself. But now the tables have turned, and Lola's brother failed to see the parallels between his first steps into the romantic world and hers. In time, he'd learn.

"I can handle myself, Link," she said, opening her eyes and turning. Lincoln stood back up straight and nodded.

Outside of the door stood Austin Limewell, and when Lola opened the door, for a horrible moment, he saw and felt ten pairs of eyes firmly on him, examining for flaws, judging mercilessly. Quickly, however, Lola stepped outside with a hop and shut the door behind her.

"You ready?" Lola asked, looking at him.

Nervous but managing to hide any indicators of being so, he nodded. "Yeah… I'm ready."

He felt those horrible eyes glued to him again as they walked away from the house, this time through the living room window. He racked his brain for a conversation starter in hopes of toning down the hazardous awkwardness that was inevitable in his situation, but the uneasy feeling of being watched by so many people made him unable to find one.

They walked side by side, but with a safe barrier of air between them. The two went down the sidewalk, past the mailbox, and away from the Loud residence, all the while, neither knowing what to say. The sky above them was growing dark and the air encompassing them was cool but not cold. In the distance, a dog barked. They strolled through Michigan suburbia together.

"Sorry if you felt intimidated by my siblings," Lola said a block later.

"It's fine," Austin said dumbly. "They didn't bother me." If it was bad luck to start a date out with a lie, Austin thought, then he was in trouble.

The silence returned like a thick blanket over the two of them.

 _Say something, stupid,_ Lola thought.

 _Don't be silent, idiot,_ thought Austin.

It was Lola who broke the silence. "So, uh, where do your parents work?"

"My Dad works for a special interest group. He's real big on overpopulation. He thinks that the Earth is doomed unless we start making laws that force people to have only one or two kids."

Lola nodded. "Sounds cool."

It wasn't until after Auston blurted out what his father did for a living that he realized his mistake. _She has ten siblings,_ he thought. He started off the date by telling Lola that his dad worked for an organization actively working against families like hers. _Smooth, real smooth._

"I don't like it," he made sure to add. "He's always traveling to Washington. Have you ever been there?" Changing the subject was a tactical move on his part. Hopefully, Lola wouldn't take offense if she didn't have long enough to think about the possibility that Austin didn't approve of her large family. The truth was, he couldn't care less how big it was.

"No, I haven't. I've been to Chicago and New York, though. I have family in New York. And friends in Chicago."

"Good," said Austin. "Those are pretty cool cities. I like the food and the people. Washington, though… it's just about access to power and nothing else. The neighborhoods are all so blah, the only thing that turns people on is proximity to power. It's a total fetish culture. People get this kind of orgasmic shiver when they tell you they sat next to a representative at a conference or got invited to a senator's breakfast."

Lola stopped herself from laughing, feeling insecure at the prospect of Austin finding her laugh stupid. Instead, she simply giggled.

Seeing that his little rant was successful in amusing Lola, he pressed on. "I mean, I'm sure it's fun if you're living next door to the secretary of the FDA, or to Seinfeld, or Mike Bloomberg, but living next door to them isn't what New York is about. In Washington people literally talk about how many feet away from John Kerry's house their own house is."

He suddenly felt self-conscious that he was being boring and stupid, and stopped. The two, then, walked quietly once again. Thankfully, their destination was not far. The five seasons restaurant, their designated site for the night, was in the middle of downtown Royal Woods, not far from Lola's house.

Austin walked ahead and opened the double doors for Lola and she brushed, silently murmuring _thank you_ as she walked inside.

"Do you two have reservations?" the Maître D' asked Lola as she approached the stand.

"Yes," she said quietly. "A table for two." Austin walked up from behind and stood next to her.

"Name?"

"Lola Loud," answered Lola.

The Maître D' nodded and began to look down at her paper.

"It's actually registered under my name," said Austin quickly.

Lola looked off and to the side in embarrassment. _Stupid, stupid_. She should have remembered that Austin made the reservation, not her. Not all of the preparation in the world, Lola realized, could have readied her for this. She was leaving the Kid World, and, clearly, she had very little knowledge of what to do on a serious, mature escapade like a First Date.

"Name?"

"Austin Limewell."

Lola remained embarrassed up until the point that she and Austin were lead down into the heart of the restaurant and their seats at their booth table, sitting directly across from one another.

"I'm sorry about that," she apologized as she picked up her menu.

"It's fine, really. No harm done."

Lola nodded.

Silence, apparently, was the theme of this date. For an uncomfortable period of time, neither of them uttered a word. Neither knew what to say.

"The t-bone steak looks good…" Austin noted.

"Yeah," Lola agreed, "but I'm in the mood for seafood. I think I might go with the salmon. Or maybe salmon sushi."

Lola scanned the menu for a little longer, and finding nothing else she would rather have, she closed the menu and set it down on the table. Lola looked at Austin, studying his features. He was, in her opinion, a very attractive guy. His hair was combed, but at the same time looked a bit messy… but in a good way. His eyes were big and had an unusual color to them. They almost looked purple, and under the right light, Lola could tell that they would appear violet. Whilst he was young and had not yet realized the full extent of the cruelty of the world, his face had just a little hardness and ruggedness to it noticeable to Lola.

"Getting salmon?" Austin asked, putting down his menu as well.

Lola's eyes shot away. She looked at a waitress walking past holding a plate of bread in one hand and a pitcher of water in another.

"Y-Yeah."

They made a little more small talk before the waiter came and took their orders. Soon enough, their food came and they began to eat. The small talk continued.

Lola had been playing it safe through the entire First Date thus far, not asking any especially personal questions and trying her best not to make a fool of herself, and, other than for the occasional incident such as when she tried giving the Maître D' nonexistent reservations under her name, had been relatively good at achieving success to this end. She was extremely nervous when she first came out and greeted Austin, but now she had settled in a bit and was more comfortable. For better or for worse, she now had found some confidence and decided to act boldly.

"...I've lived North all my life, I guess, so I'm pretty used to the cold," Austin was saying.

"Hey…" said Lola. "Austin. Are you enjoying yourself?"

He swallowed a bite of steak and became silent. He took a brief drink of his cola before answering.

"Of course I am, Lola. I've never been a fan of restaurant dates… I mean, it's not like I've ever gone out with anyone before, you're my first… but the idea of taking a girl out to dinner isn't something I think I'd normally do."

"Then why did you ask me?"

He looked at her like she was crazy. "...Because you're Lola Loud." Austin answered as if it was obvious, and she was silly for not knowing.

She blushed.

"You're, like, the hottest girl in school," he continued. "I mean, I'd let someone run over my foot with a truck if that was the only way to do this with you."

"That's… very sweet. Thank you."

He sipped his coke once again. "It's true. I asked you to a nice restaurant because I guess it's one of the most common places for people to go on dates. If I asked you to, I don't know, come to the flea market with me, I might have come off as weird and you might have said no. The _last_ thing I wanted to do was run that risk." He chuckled, and started to cut up the rest of his steak. "I didn't want to suggest seeing a movie because I wanted to talk with you, and learn about you. You can't really do that at a movie. I was a bit hesitant on coming to a restaurant, too, because I look funny when I chew."

"No you don't," Lola said a bit too quickly for her own liking.

He smiled. "You don't think so?"

"No, I really don't."

"That's… good to know, then." He sighed, and looked out the window. The sun had now fully set, and light rain was now coming down to the earth from the night sky. A full moon beautifully lit the parking lot, and cars glistened and shone vibrantly—a combination of the moonlight and the rain. "If I ever go on a second or third date with someone, it would probably be something more interesting."

"Austin?"

He looked back at her. "Yeah?"

"Why do you keep talking like we're only going on one date?"

For the next couple of months, Lola saw Austin regularly. When they passed one another in the hallways, they smiled and silently nodded to one another. Then, a week after their First Date, they went on a Second Date hiking in the dark ( _this_ is _an interesting date idea, Lola had said_ ), and, under a dimly lit lantern next to a park bench on a cliff overlooking Royal Woods, shared their First Kiss. In the hallways, their silent nods turned into verbal greetings. _Hey, Lola! Hi, Austin!_ Both of their friends quickly caught on to what was happening. If nothing else, both of their blushing after each time they simply said hi to one another gave it away.

Thanksgiving was long over and Lola's older siblings had long since hopped on a train, plane or car and went away back to their regular lives. These days, the only ones living in the house with her were Lily, Lana, Lucy, and their parents. She sometimes visited Austin. Austin sometimes visited her.

While, much like Lola, Austin was very nervous on their First Date, he, unlike the majority of boys his age, wasn't very nervous when he first met Lola's parents. In fact, he and Lola's father actually seemed to rather enjoy and respect one another. They had a conversation about politics, and went so in depth that Lola didn't understand any of what they were talking about it most points during their exchange. Austin, she learned, wanted to become a civics or American Government teacher when he grew up. Learning that, for some reason, made her even more attracted to the boy. He wanted to work with the youth when he grew up, putting up with their delinquency in the name of educating and inspiring the next generation.

The two got along very well. Just one and a half weeks after their First Date, they had a third. That was when, _officially,_ Lola had gotten her first boyfriend. Saying hi in the hallway had been dropped in favor of quick hugs or kisses on the cheek. They texted and video chatted almost every day. When Lola had a large quantity of homework for the night or a particularly boring chore that she was recruited to do, she thought of Austin and what she had with him, and instantly felt better and breezed through her monotonous task with ease and purpose. Sometimes, she had thoughts that, maybe, she would be with Austin forever, and the prospect made her feel like she was floating on air or losing one of the illegal drugs that Luna had been kicked out of the house for using that made you feel good and light-headed.

But Lola was fifteen now and not actually dumb. She knew that you could love somebody more than anything and still, at one point, separate from them. Nothing was absolute or set in stone, _especially_ not high school romances—they were, in fact, one of the few things that could be counted on almost to _always_ ended at one point or another. It would be only half a year until Austin would be turning 17. He'd be in college at one point. Could they stay together then? What about the year after that? What about in the next half-decade? The next decade?

Though Lola was a smart girl, she couldn't help but to find herself more often than not irrational thinking that her and Austin's relationship was more special than other high school relationships, that it would outlast graduation and then college. They fit together so well. They loved each other so much. How could what they shared _ever_ end?

…She didn't know. It seemed impossible.

The first big test to their relationship, when it finally came, however, was not a year-long leakage of their interest for one another like Lola had feared. When the brakes of Vanzilla, the Loud family van, failed to work when Lola's parents had been taking Lisa to a science fair, their deaths came quickly and without trepidation. One moment, they were talking and laughing in the car, very much alive, and the next they were very much not alive. Dead. That was the word.

 _They're… dead, Lola._

Lily had told her this after getting off of a brief phone call. She couldn't believe this, of course, because Lily was talking about her parents and sister and her parents and sister don't die. Other people's parents and sisters die. People on TV and in the movies have parents and sisters that die.

Lola laughed awkwardly at Lily's silly little joke and decided that it would be a good time to walk over to Austin's house. She putting on her coat and made her way through Royal Woods, the cold wind blowing hard. Her teeth chattered. Her legs wobbled. She hugged herself, not because her parents and sister were dead—they weren't—but because it was cold.

Austin had gotten a phone call about the car crash, too, probably from Lily. He looked surprised when Lola appeared at his door.

"Come in," he said worriedly. "It must be freezing out there."

"Are they alive, Austin?" she asked, desperation practically _oozing_ from her voice.

"Lola…"

" _ANSWER ME, AUSTIN! ARE THEY ALIVE?_ "

He flinched when she yelled. Austin looked down and off to the side. "Yes, Lola… they're… gone."

He used the word _gone_ instead of _dead_ because gone could mean that they simply went on a weekend trip or were otherwise out of town, Lola thought.

"Are they dead?" she asked more calmly. "Dead, Austin. Are they dead?"

"Yes, Lola. They're dead."

There was an incorruptible quality to Austin's voice, there always had been. He was telling her the truth. His voice could not be counterfeited or used to lie to her.

Her eyes filled with tears and a wave of emotion crashed over her. She suddenly felt like the worst person alive for yelling at Austin.

She suddenly felt unworthy of having such a kind, caring, perfect boyfriend.

She suddenly felt like a small, frail little girl with the knowledge that she had just lost three family members.

She suddenly felt stupid and ignorant for trying to deny to herself that they were gone.

It all hit _too hard_ and _too fast_ and _too all at once._ It was terrible, and Lola knew that nothing could ever top the anguish she felt then. She broke down crying immediately.

Luckily, though, Austin was there to comfort her.

The months ahead would be tough, but as long as she had Austin… Lola thought that she just might be able to endure through them.


End file.
